Retire Young and Wealthy

In this era of doing more with less, a lot of offices still have a crushing amount of work that needs to be finished and manpower levels that are lower in most cases than they were five years ago. It all adds up to an atmosphere where people come in, sit right down, get to work and do not get up until it is time for lunch or time to go home.

As a boss or the head of an office, one of the most common problems is how to keep a workforce motivated as the economy trudges along, or if morale and overall work conditions won’t change anytime soon. While a boss’s job can be to criticize workers if their overall production is not up to speed, the opposite should be true for workers that get the job done consistently on time and with more than just the minimal amount of production.

Rewards do not have to be elaborate. If there is a big project coming up in the office, simple, low-cost items such as personalized shirts, coffee mugs or little trinkets can improve worker morale and production. You would be surprised how motivated a worker can get with a coffee mug that says “I salute Joe Smith for his hard work on the Jones project.” A shirt rewarding a worker for production on a big project can be a source of pride for that person.

If the budget allows and the office doesn’t really cotton to personalized items, a little more grease on the palm could produce higher output. Most major cities or companies have access to sports teams of all levels. A lot of workers into sports might do a double take if the boss holds up two tickets and says “I have great seats for this Saturday’s college football game.” Access to in-demand concerts from artists whose tickets are hard to get are a great incentive.

Companies whose reward budgets only need to be blown once a year can up the ante even further. Make it a contest. Have prizes such as little personal trinkets for workers whose productivity increases a certain amount. Up the stakes to tickets for an event, dinner for two on the company at a nice restaurant, or an overnight stay at a nice hotel and watch the workers scramble back to their desks. If the budget allows, allow for a multiple-day getaway to a major city in the United States, such as New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. The promise of a vacation, paid for by the company, can produce strong results.

It may be hard to recruit workers in this job market, but it isn’t hard to motivate the ones a company has. A little reward can go a long way toward getting the work done, not to mention a happier office all around.